An American high school is pretty different from a German high school. One big difference I noticed quite quickly is the school calendar. In Germany, the schools follow a year-round calendar. Here in America, most of the schools have a long summer break (which lasts between 10 and 12 weeks) and rather short breaks throughout the school year. In the United States, about 10% of the students attend a school with a year-round schedule. There are about 3,100 schools with this kind of school calendar in the U.S.
In a year-round school calendar, there are six to nine weeks in a row of instruction which are broken up by up to two-week breaks. In Germany, the exact calendar differs from state to state. For example, in my state Brandenburg, we have 6 weeks of summer break, 2 weeks of fall break, 1.5 weeks of Christmas break, 1 week of winter break between the two semesters and 2 weeks of spring/easter break. Furthermore, there are sometimes extended weekends because of national holidays like Ascension of Christ or Pentecost. However, there are still about 180 days of instruction.
Supporters of a year-round school argue that it reduces teacher and student burnout because it gives them a break right when they need it. Furthermore, you can enjoy time off in every season without missing school. This also allows families to travel more other than in summer. A Duke university study suggested that students attending a year-round school are at a slight advantage because they don’t forget what they learned during the long summer break.
However, there are also advantages to a traditional school calendar. The learning won’t be disrupted within a school year because of several breaks. So, the students don’t have to “get used” to school again after a break so many times. Moreover, the students might be more able to enjoy their summers fully and don’t have to go to school when it is hot outside.
From my experience, I prefer a year-round school calendar more. I just like it that there are several breaks within the school year, and you get time off. Yet, the summer break is still long enough to travel, hang out with friends and work a few weeks. However, students having jobs and sports seasons for example are handled differently in Germany which might affect the school calendar and my preference as well.
Questions
What do you think about a year-round school calendar?
Do you prefer a year-round or traditional school calendar?
Should the summer break be shorter to have more breaks within the school year?
Sources
http://c-hit.org/2017/08/18/year-round-schools-gaining-popularity-nationally/
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/is-it-time-to-reconsider-the-year-round-school-schedule/2020/06
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/year-round-schooling-explained/2015/12
https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/pros-and-cons-of-year-round-school
https://www.wtps.org/cms/lib8/NJ01912980/Centricity/Domain/1794/Should_school_be_year_round.pdf
Replies
Great topic choice and reallyu wewll done Laura!
I think we should stay with the calender we use for our school. Just for the fact that having more breaks during the school year could interfer with some peoples learning. And having the summer off I believe is very benifical.
I think that the breaks actually could benefit some student's learning because they are less likely to have a burnout.
I think we should stick to the calendar we use now. Summer is very benificial for most if not all students. We need that break after so many months in a row of just learning. If the teachers think we forgot it then they should just give us a review sheet.
I can understand your point. It would be interesting for me to experience having all the summer off and not just 6 weeks.
I think the calendar for school we have now is fine because if we are forgetting what we are learning or we need it for the next year we should get a bit of a review. During the summer when it is nice out it gives kids more time to be physical and kids our age to work more and be able to spend time with family and friends. Most kids look forward to summer break.
I think you need a review after having more than 3 weeks off anyways.
I think that we should keep the part-year school instead of full-time school all year round. summer is beneficial to a student's mental health, take that away and you get a lot more drained kids and less effort to work at school.
I think that a year round school calender wouldn't be beneficial. I think this because summer break is a time for students to relax and relieve the stress of school and without it would cause a lot of stress. I would prefer to have a traditional school calender. Personally I would not like to have a shorter summer.
A question that always comes to my mind is if the summer sometimes gets boring because there is such a long time off. Of course, it is fun to just chill and just hang out with friends. But I feel like it is very hard to then go back to school.
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